


baby, we're like a time bomb

by goreallegore



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:55:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3978853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goreallegore/pseuds/goreallegore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know that frown thing doesn’t suit you. Look like a lost pug or summat,” he chuckles, his grip tight on the steering wheel.</p>
<p>“I like pugs,” Harry answers simply, and Niall has to turn and look at the boy next to him and it really shouldn’t surprise him because he has known this since day one, but Harry is beautiful. Even the frown that has found a new home on his always smiling face looks pretty – could call it painfully beautiful.</p>
<p>“I do too, though, I like happy ones. Don’t you?” he prods, and that does it as he turns, again, to find a smiling Harry, “there it is. I knew there was something missing.”</p>
<p>Harry ducks his head, avoiding Niall’s gaze, “you’re doing it again.”</p>
<p>“Doing what?”</p>
<p>“Flirting.”</p>
<p>Or; there are timers, but Harry and Niall are too in love to care.</p>
            </blockquote>





	baby, we're like a time bomb

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't that great as i strayed away from the prompt, so forgive me, but i still hope you like it.

**beginnings**

 

When Niall is about five years old a little infinity symbol appears on the inside of his wrist. He is at Zayn’s house where his ma had dropped him before she had left for work. He had just woken up from a nap and is extremely disoriented, the little tattoo not helping his confusion. It is two thin black lines curving around each other to create a miniscule infinity. He tries rubbing it, thinking that Zayn might have drawn it while he was napping, but the symbol doesn’t even smudge. He sits up frowning at his wrist when two tiny toes walk in. “You’re awake? Mummy made food! Let’s go,” and before he can answer he is being dragged by his raven haired best friend.

 

**a decade and five**

 

“Oi, be careful with that! I’ve got valuables in there,” Zayn shouts, loud enough that he knows Louis (who’s carrying a box marked ‘fragile’ in black sharpie) can hear him, despite knowing that Louis probably doesn’t care one bit.

 

“Yeah, all his 99 different types of paint brushes,” Niall snickers, placing a comforting hand on his roommates’ shoulder. The way Zayn has his shoulders slumped and a frown etched to his face he knows that they are in for their first argument as roommates, doesn’t help that when Louis and Zayn fight it gets dirty – in the most verbal way possible, of course.

 

“Remind me why did we decide to move in with him?” Zayn sighs, rubbing his temples with his index fingers.

 

Niall knows the question is supposed to be rhetorical but he answers it anyway, “cause it’s _Lou_.” He says as if it’s easiest answer in the world, like no thought should be put in making the decision. “ ’Sides he throws the best parties and sucks at Mario Cart, so you can kick his arse anytime. Think of him as a confidence booster. Every time he fails you prosper, innit?”

 

“I’m scared to ask if Mario Cart is the only thing you’re talking about here and if you just made Louis’s life a metaphor for mine,” Zayn laughs, putting his arm around his best friend’s shoulder.

 

It’s not that Louis has some outstanding list of failures that he should be honored for it’s just that he doesn’t make the _wisest_ decisions. For example last Christmas break when Niall flew back home early he thought he was going to be spending loads of time with his family, however, to his misfortune his uni roommate – _Louis_ – decided to burn down his side of the shared double causing Niall to fly back to London and report to the administration that it in fact was not an act of vandalism and was only an accident. _Who fuckin’ forgets to put water in easy mac? Christ._

“As long as he’s not burning down shit I’m good,” Niall replies. The door to their new home is left ajar and he can hear Louis moving about, probably unpacking already. “How about you go in there and help Lou unpack and keep an eye that he doesn’t fuck up while I go get the rest of the stuff?” He suggests, nudging Zayn towards the door.

 

“Alri’ but you owe me,” Zayn mumbles, cursing under his breath, and Niall can already tell it’s going to be a long year.

 

 

He turns around and goes down the staircase to the first floor where the rest of their stuff is. He finds a small moss green suitcase with a hoodie resting on it, there is also a gym-sized duffle bag right next to it with a Rover’s logo on it. He grabs the bags and turns around only to bump into someone, “sorry, mate. Didn’t see ya there.”

 

The boy grunts in response, “I haven’t even been here for five minutes and I’m already surrounded by idiots.”

 

“Easy there. It was a mistake,” Niall answers, rubbing his forehead where the other boys’ elbow had hit him.

 

The boy in question is now staring at him, quiet intently in fact, and if he didn’t know any better he might just say he’s in trouble. _Great, now he has a story to tell about his move-in day._ The brunette reaches forward making Niall jump backwards, an involuntary reaction, but the way the other boy’s shoulders slump tells Niall he might not have been going in for a punch.

 

“I-I am terribly sorry. Your forehead,” he rambles, “I didn’t see you there and then I am already having a bad day and sort of took it out on you.”

 

Niall picks up the fallen duffle bag moving towards the staircase _,_ “’s fine. See you around, yeh?”

 

-

“So, how many people have you invited to this party?” Niall opens the bag of plastic cups placing them on the kitchen table next to the beer he had bought earlier.

 

“Don’t worry I remembered to invite all of your two friends,” Louis slings an arm around Niall’s neck catching him in a headlock. At this rate the apartment will never be ready for their party which again was Louis’ idea; maybe Zayn is right, even if Lou is the oldest he shouldn’t be making the decisions.

 

“Har har, I can bet you don’t even know the names of half of the people attending this shit show,” Niall grabs the last of the trash and throws it into the garbage tin Louis had found on the side of the street, Zayn had freaked out and asked for it to be sterilized. A garbage tin. Sterilized. _Why is he living here again?_

 

“Preposterous, I know everyone. 50 quid if I can name everyone once they arrive?”

 

“If you wanna lose yer’ money so badly then I’ll gladly bet on it,” Niall shakes Louis’s hand in agreement knowing fully well that he’ll be winning, after all Louis doesn’t know about the new friend Zayn made in his art class who he’s bringing with.

 

-

 

The party is in fully swing by the time Niall comes back from work, to his dismay his boss had scheduled him the same day as their housewarming party and he had no way of getting out of it, doesn’t help that Louis wanted to start early for god knows what reason. Niall is convinced it’s because he wanted to do a round and figure everyone’s name out, but hopefully the alcohol kept him distracted or Niall would be 50 quid less by the end of tonight.

 

He only steps into the apartment and he is being dragged by Louis and Zayn through a throng of people, “so why am I being kidnapped?”

 

“I have a friend I’d like you to meet,” Zayn replies excitedly, loosening his hold on Niall’s arm, “and Lou here has something to prove.”

 

Niall doesn’t expect to see the brunette from weeks ago, in fact, he was plenty sure that his interactions with his lovely neighbor will never make it past the occasional smile and head-nod in the mailroom. Alas, he is wrong. Niall straightens himself, just to seem interested in what Zayn is about to say, the least he can do as his best friend.

 

“Harry, this is Niall my childhood mate. And Niall this is Harry the lad from my art class I was telling you about?” Zayn gestures between them, starting to back away so both boys can get to know each other or something, but unsurprisingly Harry stays still offering him his politest smile.

 

“Take it, you’re not much of a talker?” the boy just shrugs, clearly meaning he is not interested.

 

Zayn clears his throat before saying, “We’re gonna go say hi to a couple more people, ya?” Niall doesn’t expect Harry offering a hand but he does so Niall takes it, shaking it firmly before bidding him bye.

 

He leans back, taking a swig of his beer, when Louis stops him with a squeal and a hand grabbing onto Niall’s wrist. “Your timer! What happened to your timer?”

 

Obviously confused Niall looks at the inside of his wrist hoping to find a familiar infinity etched onto his skin, but instead he finds the number ‘ _5_ ’. “What the fuck? Where did it go?”

 

“Ha, thought you’d live forever eh? Guess fate has some other plans,” Louis snickers by his side.

 

“Lou, that doesn’t make sense. Your tattoo only changes on your 18th or 21st birthday and today is neither. I don’t understand. It was right there when I left work,” Niall huffs, running his hand through his hair, more concerned than his friend, “what happened?”

 

Louis straightens up, putting the beer can on the small table next to him, “did you do anything different? You know how your time can change if you do something new, get hurt or meet someone new?”

 

“My day was the same as any other. Classes, work and then this. Sure as hell didn’t fall or anything.”

 

But before Niall can finish, Louis interrupts, “Harry! You met someone new! That Harry kid! And you lot shook hands and everything!”

 

Niall doesn’t even get a chance to protest and Louis is pulling him through a mass of people to the corner of the kitchen where Zayn and Harry are standing, "You!”

 

“You took my friend’s infinity!” He waggles his pointer finger in Harry’s face, the other boy baffled at the entire situation, which gives Niall enough reason to step in. “My timer it _changed_. Changed specifically after meeting _you_.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Harry says, tilting his head a little, “Is this some kind of pick up line?”

Niall shakes his head in disbelief, warmth rushing to his cheeks as he tries to get a grasp over the situation – how his infinity has changed right after meeting this strange boy, how everyone but him in his little friend circle have little numbers hinting at their time left to live and now that Niall has one he is perplexed, but mostly scared. Because the number is _‘5’_ , five what? Years? Months? Days? At least, it’s not minutes considering he is still breathing. _Thank god._

“No, I’m being serious, look” raising his wrist in Harry’s face, so he can clearly see how he has effected the boy.

 

“Oh, cool! So, does this mean you die in 5 years? Oh! Or is it days? If it’s days you gotta make the best of it, mate.” He is actually smiling, all dimples and teeth smiling, sending Niall into a frenzy of rage.

 

“Are you taking the piss right now? ‘Cause I’m bloody serious,” and Harry just shrugs making Niall throw his hands in the air, moving past Harry and Zayn walking towards his room.

 

He locks himself trying to block out any noise coming from the outside. He strips out of his clothes, only leaving boxers on, and crawls into bed. The lights are off in his room though the moonlight breaking in through the windows dimly lights it up. And then it changes, the number _‘5’_ goes back to an infinity.

 

“Holy fuck,” he breathes, before passing out. At least, he didn’t lose any money.

 

**The ‘ _let’s not talk about it_ ’ rule**

Niall wakes up with a pounding headache, a hangover was a given considering the amount of alcohol he ingested, but he was still hoping that by some miracle he’d be spared of the aftermath that came along with the excessive drinking; at least he had a good night. He sits up, eyes closed, resting his head in his palm, breathing in and out, when a hand comes up and rubs his back.

It catches him by surprise and he jolts away from the gentle touch, eyes wide open as they adjust to the lighting of the room and the individual in his bed. “Sorry didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, his morning voice even raspier than normal.

The sight before him sends Niall into a frenzy, his heart racing, his mind running in overdrive as it tries to collect the traces from the night before and it’s happenings. The house being deadly silent doesn’t help, either he has woken up too early or its mid-day and Zayn and Louis are out and about. Regardless, the silence of the room settles an uncanny restlessness within him. The silence stretches a beat too long when Harry speaks again, “we just kissed. That’s all.”

The way he says it with nonchalance and _it’s no big deal_ attitude irks Niall to no end. He pushes away the comforter, getting out of his bed, “right. I suppose you can leave then.” He doesn’t wait for a response, silently treading towards the bathroom, once he is inside he turns on the tap of the sink, splashing some cold water in his face. He reaches for the face towel and that’s when he notices the word ‘ _months_ ’ and a small eleven printed on the inside of his wrist.

“Fuck,” he exhales, marching out of the bathroom to his room to confront his guest, but he finds an empty room and rumpled sheets, “I guess we won’t talk about it.”

 

**summer heat and new friendships**

“So, you’re just leaving me? What happened to looking after each other in sickness and health? For better or for worse?” Niall sighs exaggeratedly, frowning at the packed suitcase in front of him and an even more ready Zayn looking over his passport.

“Babe, I agreed to be roommates with you not marry you. ‘Sides, I’m only going for two weeks and you know how much Perrie and I need this.”

“Poor ol’ Perrie. What about poor ol’ Nialler? Why must I come second to everyone else?” Niall argues, picking up the suitcase and following Zayn out of his room, to which Zayn adds, “Oi, spare me the dramatics. You’ll be fine!”

“Starved. Deprived. Isolated. Doesn’t sound fine to me, Malik?” Niall pauses as Zayn turns to engulf him in a hug. Niall and Zayn don’t really do time apart so when they do Niall has the habit to be overly dramatic about the whole situation, no matter how much he understands his friends’ reasoning.

“I’ll miss you,” Zayn admits, voice filled with sincerity, “I’ll be back in no time.”

Niall hums in response, letting Zayn know that he really is going to be fine, and there is truly no need to worry.

-

Its two days after Zayn’s departure and Louis’ sudden ‘ _my mother needs me at home_ ’ that Harry arrives at his door. Niall is lounging on his sofa, watching re-runs of friends, when there is a soft knock on the door; if the volume hadn’t been on low he might’ve even missed it. He shuffles his way to the door and opens it to an unexpected face. It takes less than two second for him to take in the distraught figure in front of him, messy bun, tear stained cheeks and sniffling nose, “is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Is Zayn here? Liam, my roommate, isn’t at home and I really need a ride to Holmes Chapel and I was wondering if he could take me or even possibly let me use his car, I promise I’ll be back by tomorrow morning,” he rambles, his voice scratchy as if he had just woken up.

The thing is Harry and Niall’s meetings have always been odd, first the move-in day, then the party, then the awkward morning after and now this. If asked, Niall can’t say that he especially likes Harry but he has no reason to dislike him either aside from the fact that he loses years of his life, literally, whenever the kid is around – more specifically, when there is touching involved. Last time his infinity had gone to 11 months and then once Harry left back to its original state. Since then he’s been a frequent at the library, looking through books, articles and magazines to find some sort of explanation or perhaps a similar case, but he has had no luck so far.

Though now seeing the same boy with watery eyes and an unappealing frown he can’t help but feel guilty for all the times he has asked Zayn to go over to Harry’s instead of vice-versa. “I’m sorry, he’s not here but if you’d like I can take you, yeah?”

Harry furrows his brows in confusion, as if Niall’s offer is anything but sincere, “You don’t have to. I know you aren’t particularly fond of me so it’s alright. I’ll figure something out.”

The accusation catches Niall off guard, “Harry, listen, I don’t dislike you and didn’t you say this is was an emergency? Now let me grab my keys and jacket and then we can take you home.” And that’s the last of Harry’s complains.

-

Holmes Chapel is a small village in the County of Cheshire about 4 hours away from Central London, at any other day Niall would refuse to drive that far especially if he has to go through the London traffic but since this is important and the occupant in his passenger seat won’t stop making puppy eyes, he has to make an exception.

“You know that frown thing doesn’t suit you. Look like a lost pug or summat,” he chuckles, his grip tight on the steering wheel.

“I like pugs,” Harry answers simply, and Niall has to turn and look at the boy next to him and it really shouldn’t surprise him because he has known this since day one, but Harry is beautiful. Even the frown that has found a new home on his always smiling face looks pretty – could call it painfully beautiful.

“I do too, though, I like happy ones. Don’t you?” he prods, and that does it as he turns, again, to find a smiling Harry, “there it is. I knew there was something missing.”

Harry ducks his head, avoiding Niall’s gaze, “you’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Flirting.”

The words are quite simple, unadulterated and simple, but Niall knows they mean a lot more than it sounds. He can clearly see Harry’s flushed cheeks, twiddling thumbs, biting lips and just for a second he wishes that he could drive off the highway down an unknown road and maybe get to know the boy next to him. Instead, he doesn’t say anything.

-

The emergency responsible for Harry’s distraught appearance is a puppy. A small football sized pug. A _damn_ pug. Niall drove four hours to Holmes Chapel because a mutt had an upset stomach. He wants to be mad, furious even, though Harry’s mirthful laughter filling the room as the puppy licks his face is stopping him to do so. They are in Harry’s house, in his room, and he is sprawled on top of his bed with his pup on his stomach while Niall is awkwardly standing in the doorway pondering over his terrible life decisions.

“I drove all the way here for a damn pup,” Niall mumbles, disbelief lacing his every word, “the irony.”

The sigh escaping Niall’s lips must’ve caught Harry’s attention because now he is sitting up and patting the space beside him, “come on, I bet he wants to play with you too.”

It surprises Niall how effortless it is to just walk over and take a seat on Harry’s bed, it should bother him, he should be grumbling, instead he is sitting in some pretty boy’s room, “Hi.”

“Hey,” Harry replies, smiling his dimpled smile.

“Reckon, your emergency has been resolved,” Niall points at the little creature who is busy hiding under one of the pillows.

“Thank you, I really appreciate this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugs, silence taking over again. That happens a lot with them, pauses, interruptions, silences that are uncalled for yet not uncomfortable in the slightest.

“I should go downstairs. ‘S late and I’m knackered. Yeah.” Before he can push himself off the bed Harry grabs a hold of his wrist, “Wait.”

“Don’t hate me, okay?” Harry grins, confusing Niall even more. ‘ _Why’_ is the tip of Niall’s tongue when Harry lunges forward, pressing his lips to Niall’s. The sudden action leaves Niall stunned, it takes him a second to process the situation. _They are kissing_.

It’s all too much, one second they were talking, and now all Niall can see or feel is Harry. Harry’s warm breath ghosting over Niall’s lips, his massive hands gripping his t-shirt tightly as if loosening his hold will make Niall run away, his curls slightly brushing the side of Niall’s cheeks. The other boy has completely overtaken all of Niall’s five senses, overwhelming him to the point of making his knees weak, his breath hitched.

Niall lifts his hands from where they were lying uselessly in his lap, and cups Harry’s jaw, stubble prickling under his touch like sandpaper. While Harry swipes his tongue across Niall’s lips, sending shivers down his body, pulling at his t-shirt. With a small sound, he gently coaxes Niall to open his mouth, to which he obliges gladly, and Harry licks into his mouth.

They pull apart short on breath, a new kind of rush coursing through them, once again letting the sound of their breathing take over them. Niall is entirely disoriented, only red swollen lips keeping his focus, when he says, “we should do this again.”

Harry lets out a small chuckle, it sounding more private to Niall’s ear than it should, “Yeah.”

**-**

 “A mother, a sister and a pug. Any other family I should know about?” Niall asks, they are sitting in the park, Harry’s head in Niall’s lap, as they exchange stories and little details about one another.

“Knocked a girl up right by that tree in sixth form. So, probably have a child,” he points lazily to an oak tree a good 10 feet away from them.

“Right. And I’m married to Kate Beckinsale, what else?” He jokes.

“But I’m your number one?”

“Always,” he replies, then, silently affirming to himself and Harry how much he likes the boy laying in his lap – it should’ve been obvious after the kissing and hand holding at Harry’s mothers house.

"Now, tell me about that time where I found you in my bed 'cause I don't remember anything," Niall asks.

"Ok! So, at Louis' party you started flirting with me, yeah?" Harry says joyfully, and goes on to tell his story.

-

Zayn doesn’t come back the following week, neither does Louis, but Harry, well, he sort of just fits himself into Niall’s life like he had been the missing puzzle piece all along. Waking up together, going to bed together, its funny how in such a little time it becomes a routine and his presence monumental in to Niall.

 

 

**numbers tell a different story**

Niall and Harry are sat on the couch of Niall’s apartment, well, sort of. They were supposed to be having dinner together – since Liam is working late again and neither of Niall’s roommates are back from their jobs either – but Harry’s lips looked too inviting and Niall couldn’t help himself. He is silently pressing kisses to corner of Harry’s mouth when the doorbell rings, “darn, it was just getting good.”

“Yeah?” Harry wiggles his eyebrows, “was it really though?”

“Well, you see, nudity might have been involved.”

“That’s good. What else?” Harry pulls Niall back into his lap, pressing kisses along his jaw.

“How about I show you?” Niall whispers.

“Please don’t,” another voice squeals, startling Niall which causes him to fall off of Harry’s lap and onto the floor.

“Louis, listen,” he fixes his shirt, running a hand through his hair, to which Louis adds, “since when? Does Zayn know? Oh, god. Niall, this is the dumbest idea you’ve ever had!”

Okay, so Louis isn’t been the best about keeping his mouth shut, but Niall still doesn’t want him saying things that he doesn’t want Harry to hear. Niall quickly abandons his spot on the floor and scurries after Louis, pulling him down the hallway to his own room, “could you stay quiet for just one second?”

Instead of answering, Louis pulls at Niall’s wrist, pushing up his sleeve and revealing black markings in the form of an ‘8’ and ‘months’, “8 months? You now have bloody _eight months_ left and you want _me_ to be quiet? Niall, what are you doing? That boy isn’t good for you!”

“Since when did you become the voice of reason?” Niall protests, pulling away his arm.

“Since you stopped being one. Seriously, what are you doing? If you want a fling just ask some girl in class? Or a bloke in the pub? I’m sure they’d be more than willing.”

“Lou, this isn’t about that,” he huffs out, trying his best to reason with his friend about the whole situation, it’s not that Niall doesn’t know the consequences, it’s just that he has chosen to ignore them.

Louis visibly relaxes, shoulders slumped, features softened as he says, “Oh no, Niall.”

“What?”

“You like him. Like proper like him.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise nor should it knock Niall’s breath away, but someone else reaffirming his feelings gives him an odd sense of revelation, or how he had in fact been avoiding his feelings for the longest time. Louis takes Niall’s silence as a confirmation to continue, “babe, you can’t. If you stay with him your years will decrease by the second and you don’t want that. Do you?”

The room suddenly is too small, the walls seem like they are closing in, and it hits him like a freight train, how his years are directly equivalent to how little time he will spend with Harry. The tugging on his heart only intensifies when he hears the familiar voice, “Ni? Can we talk?”

Louis is no longer standing in front of him but instead a warm hand has curled around his waist, holding him in place like an anchor, and Niall is sure without its hold he’d have fallen to the ground. They just stand there for a minute or two – it’s only when Harry starts kissing his forehead that everything comes pouring out, “no. No, no. This is not fair.”

He repeats the words in his head, out loud, because he can. Because it is all too much and he doesn’t want to think about the future and he just sort of wants to stay where he is, in Harry’s arm, shut in his room away from timers and death and reality.

Once the silent sobs turn into steady breathing and they are sat on Niall’s bed, Harry decides to speak, “My timer is different than everyone else’s too,” he pulls down the collar of his shirt showing the other boy the time _’08:00’_ carved onto his skin, “it’s strange since most people just have a number not a specific time on their skin and mostly it’s on the inside of their wrist. But I have a specific time. I always thought it was strange to have the time 00:00 on your skin but never really paid much attention to it. Well, until I met you and it started changing.”

“What do you mean?” Niall asks, curiosity lacing his words as he shifts closer to Harry, taking his hand in his.

“The eight is new. It changes every time we are together. So, now I suppose I’ll die at 8 o’clock someday.”

“But you don’t know when.”

“But I don’t know when,” he repeats, intertwining their fingers, filling in the spaces between their fingers with one another, “it’s uncertain. Gives me a feeling of uncertainty, but you know what doesn’t? What is the only thing that I am sure of?”

“What?”

The words that Harry says next leaves Niall completely breathless, “You. You make this,” he gestures to his collarbone, “and all this uncertainty worth it, your laugh that lightens up the room makes it worth it, the sight of you blushing with your flushed cheeks and coy smiles makes it worth it. You and all the butterflies you give me makes it worth it. But.”

Niall continues for him, cause even if being with Harry means his life being reduced to 8 months than so be it – he rather live it with him than without him, “But nothing. Because you’re my only certainty, the only thing I’m sure of, so you sure as hell make it worth it too.”

 

 

**b i r t h d a y s  a n d  r e v e l a t i o n s**

Niall wakes up to a familiar body pressed against his chest, a bent arch fitting into the curve of his body, making him smile to himself as he pulls away. It’s been three months since Harry and him got together so sharing a bed has pretty much become a routine by now, though it doesn’t changes the feeling it gives Niall, just how he felt the first night him and Harry shared the small space. Legs intertwined, body’s tangled in the mess of rumpled sheets, as they lay there falling asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing. Completely and entirely at peace.

He pushes off the comforter, swinging his leg down, when two arms come to grab his waist, “happy birthday, babe.”

Niall rubs his palm against the back of Harry’s hand, when he realizes that it is his _21 st birthday_ which also means that today determines whether his timer will keep changing or not. His body visibly tenses alerting Harry about the significance of the day, the other boy shifts his position, coming to sit behind him cross legged, placing his chin on Niall’s shoulder, “No matter what it says I want you to know something. I’ll only ever love you.”

Niall exhales slowly, nodding in an attempt to convince not only himself but also the boy next to him – letting Niall gain a sense of confidence that he needs. Harry slides his hand on top of the back of Niall’s that’s lying in his lap, “let’s do this together, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he breathes, flipping over his left to reveal his wrist. The number _‘4’_ has now disappeared instead there is a small infinity, thin _blue_ lines looping around each other with no trace of numbers or months or black infinities next to it.

Confusion masks Niall’s expression as he turns to face Harry, only to spot an identical infinity sitting on top of the curly-haired boy’s collarbone, “Haz, Haz _look!_ ” Harry looks down to his own shoulder spotting the blue symbol, silently giggling to himself.

“What’s so funny?” Niall asks, baffled at his boyfriends reaction.

Harry looks Niall straight in the eye, “We’re each other’s. Each other’s uncertainty.”

“We are,” he replies fondly, the sight before him being too endearing, and all the questions he had about why their timers are infinities and not exact numbers, disappear under soft kisses and gentle touches.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> comments, kudos, and all that jazz!


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